Live Surveillance at Taiwanese Financial InstitutionA leading Taiwanese financial institution sought a surveillance upgrade, as its original analog system had limited clarity and no real-time viewing of video. Operation of the overall surveillance system did not facilitate immediate emergency response.

"Image quality was the main problem,” said the head of the surveillance system project. “The resolution of the original analog cameras was limited, and they couldn't provide clear monitor pictures. “Though the recordings were filed, the help they could provide for future reference was limited.”

The financial information institution handles issuance of Taiwanese credit cards. It is also responsible for the planning, design and implementation of corporate information networks between Taiwan's financial institutions.

It had deployed a video surveillance system many years before to ensure security at the physical level. However, its camera configuration was not scalable, resulting in difficulties with system deployment and high costs for expanding the existing system. Additionally, follow-up, maintenance and technical service of the equipment could not be performed as quickly as needed.

"The configuration of cameras wasn't sufficiently flexible,” he said. “Each analog camera required the wiring and laying of dedicated video transmission cables. That made it difficult to add new cameras when we wanted monitoring at a specific location, while at the same time it was difficult to move the cameras that had already been installed.”

When some cameras began to malfunction after several years of service, the maintenance provider could not be reached, and contact was soon lost. At this point, the financial institution decided to replace the system, hoping that a new digital surveillance system would resolve the problems associated with the original analog system.

Another objective was to secure more solid follow-up maintenance support services through the introduction of a new system. Following several rounds of evaluation and contacts, the proposal from Fortune Information System (FIS) was adopted, in which the Axis network surveillance solution was selected.

SolutionBased on FIS' planning, the 64 original analog cameras would be replaced and 16 additional cameras would be installed. A total of 80 network cameras would be used, with 62 Axis 207 Network Cameras and 18 Axis 215 PTZ Network Cameras. After the network cameras were deployed, the existing enterprise LAN could be used for image transmission to the back end, eliminating the original analog coaxial cables. Cameras can be added or replaced easily, as rapid implementation is possible as long as they are within network coverage.

What followed was the back-end system, which originally used four 16-channel DVR systems. It had to be replaced because of the full digitalization and networking of the video images. FIS used one IBM System x3650 server, while common x86 units would act as video surveillance recording servers. New video management software was installed, using Logiware's go1984. Compared to the original surveillance software, this software was easier to install and set up.

ResultThe financial institution's video problems were resolved with the new surveillance system. The image resolution was sufficiently high, and the addition and relocation of cameras became easier. Moreover, the maintenance support was strong, with FIS' commitment of a three-year guarantee and site repairs within four hours.

Based on estimates by the client, re turn on investment would happen three to five years after completion. Though the investment on implementation has not yet been fully recovered, the stable performance of the new system has paid off. The system chief is greatly satisfied with the effect of this new deployment, being confident about a fast return on investment.

Converged Solution Deployed for Singapore Financial CompanyThe globalization of the banking and financial industry has led to more stringent security requirements. When a leading global financial management and advisory company decided to renovate its headquarters in Singapore, it contracted ADT Fire & Security to evaluate its security structure from the front office to back-end operations.

The project covers a building with a rooftop, basement, exterior and car park. ADT is able to meet the user's requirements of providing an integrated security system. The Security Management System integrates all major security system components covering electronic access control, visitor management, video surveillance, intruder alarms and security communications.

The customer required a single point of contact to provide security support to all its offices in the region, and to roll out a similar solution consistently to its regional offices on various scales. Another concern of the customer was to monitor and control all its overseas offices remotely from its Regional Security Control Centre at its Singapore headquarters, using ADT's security management software, Software House C?CURE.

SolutionMore than 190 cameras are installed throughout the premises. PTZ cameras are installed mainly outdoors, monitoring the surroundings and car park barrier areas to check license plates. Through the integration of video surveillance and other systems, the Security Management System can turn on the video to alert the security operator when an alarm is triggered due to an intrusion in a restricted area. A real-time video will be displayed on the computers via the system and security LAN.

Selected alarms are also programmed to send messages to the security guards or supervisors through SMS to mobile phones, e-mail or both. Most importantly, the Security Control Centre operators can extract graphic floor plans to display real-time alarms, status of access control readers, location of video surveillance cameras and display real-time video by clicking on any camera icon within the floor.

In addition, 150 doors are secured with access control using ADT's software. Operators are able to execute remote commands to manually lock or unlock doors. Graphical maps showing the floor plans of a building or building compounds will show the location of doors under computer control. Each door is tagged with an icon and description text.

For alarm monitoring, the operator at each Security Management System can view the status of alarm sensors and a line fault, which is a faulty connection in the line or a disconnection in the line. Each intrusion alarm is represented by a flashing icon and a beeping alarm tone. Network software is installed in each respective Security Management System.

The access control system, Tyco's Software House C?CURE 800 also allows integration with visitor management software, PassagePoint. Using the C?CURE database of tenant names, PassagePoint is always current and allows front lobby personnel to quickly link tenants with visitors and record visitor activity as they enter or leave the building. Visitors are issued a visitor pass with limited access to the offices. The Visitor Pass will only be valid within the specified time allocated to complete the necessary transactions or meetings at the venue.

Global staff cards are issued to all staff. This standardization in cards allows the staff to travel to their regional offices carrying only one corporate card. The system is also able to administer tighter security checks on visitors entering and exiting the premises.

There is also an X-ray machine for screening mails and parcels before they are distributed to the relevant departments.

System performance monitoring is also in place. The Security Management System monitors all access points and communication lines through the use of a constant interrogation response protocol. This ensures the integrity of that data through a cyclical redundancy check. Events in the system are constantly recorded by the system event log and archived when they reach a maximum limit. This system enables quick recovery procedures, should any component fail.